Stone & Thomas

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Stone and Thomas
Type Department store
Founded 1847
Headquarters Wheeling, West Virginia
Industry Retail
Products Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares.
Website None

Stone & Thomas was a United States chain of department stores. Based in Wheeling, West Virginia, the chain had stores located in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. The company was bought out in 1998 by Elder-Beerman, an Ohio-based chain of department stores.

Contents

[edit] History

Vacant Huntington store with original signage.
Vacant Huntington store with original signage.
Vacant Wheeling flagship store.
Vacant Wheeling flagship store.

Stone and Thomas was founded in 1847 in Wheeling, West Virginia by Elijah J. Stone and Jacob C. Thomas. Also referred to as Stone's or "The People's Store", it was a West Virginia institution for 150 years. From its flagship store in downtown Wheeling, it expanded into Huntington in the 1910's, Charleston in 1928, and in most of West Virginia's major cities. In 1956 Stone and Thomas bought out Broida's of Parkersburg, and for a short time it was called Broida's, Stone & Thomas. The chain grew up to 19 stores in West Virginia and 2 in Virginia.

Stone's was a very teenager-friendly store. It sponsored high school fashion shows, held tea parties, and had a Stone-agers program for teens. Throughout the 1990's, the company wanted to focus more on its suburban stores and closed several of the older downtown stores in Huntington and Clarksburg.

In 1998 falling profits forced Stone & Thomas to sell itself to Elder-Beerman for $38 million. All existing Stone & Thomas stores were converted to Elder-Beerman by 1999. Six locations were sold to Peebles and three more locations were sold to Belk [1] .The store at the Charleston Town center retained its name but is now vacant. To this day, the Huntington store remains vacant awaiting use, still bearing the S & T logo, while the downtown Wheeling store is currently being converted into office space[2]. Also, the downtown Charleston store, built in 1948, is currently still remaining unoccupied.

[edit] Former locations

[edit] Kentucky

[edit] Ohio

Vacant Charleston store.
Vacant Charleston store.
  • St. Clairsvile: Ohio Valley Mall (converted to Elder-Beerman in 1998)

[edit] Virginia

[edit] West Virginia

  • Barboursville: Huntington Mall (Opened 1981, now Elder-Beerman)
  • Beckley
    • Raleigh Mall (Opened 1974, now Elder-Beerman)
  • Bluefield: Mercer Mall (Opened 1980, now Belk Men's & Home Store) [4]
  • Bridgeport: Meadowbrook Mall (Converted to Elder-Beerman in 1998)
  • Buckhannon: East Main St.
  • Charleston
    • Downtown (Opened 1928, moved to Charleston Town Center in 1997)
    • Charleston Town Center (Opened as Best Products. Later operated as Elder-Beerman; now Steve & Barry's)
    • Kanawha Mall (Opened 1985; later Elder-Beerman, now vacant. Elder-Beerman moved into former Ames in same mall)
  • Clarksburg
    • Downtown (Closed 1990)
    • Home Store (Opened 1993)
  • Elkins
    • Tygart Valley Mall
    • Valley Pointe Shopping Plaza (Moved in late 90's from Tygart Valley Mall, now Peebles)
  • Fairmont: Middletown Mall (Opened 1969 as Parson's-Souders)
  • Huntington: Downtown (Closed 1996)
  • Lewisburg: (sold to Peebles in 1998)
  • Morgantown: Mountaineer Mall (Opened in 1987, Converted to Elder-Beerman in 1998)
  • New Martinsville: (Opened 1995)
  • Parkersburg
    • Downtown (Broida's, Stone & Thomas from 1956 to 1998)
    • Grand Central Mall (opened 1972 as The Diamond, converted 1983 to Stone & Thomas, converted to Elder-Beerman in 1998)
  • Teays Valley: Liberty Square (Opened 1996, Converted to Elder-Beerman in 1998)
  • Summersville: (Opened 1994, Converted to Peebles in 2000)
  • Weirton: (Opened 1951)
  • Wheeling
    • Downtown (Opened 1847, moved 1890)
    • Downtown (replacement location, opened 1890, closed 2000)
    • Elm Grove (now Rite Aid)

[edit] References


[edit] External links